Music:
Inspirations and Friends
Updated 1/13//2012
"Here we will sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears; soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony." Shakespeare - "Merchant of Venice"

Judges' Form for A Karaoke Contest: Click Here. Print out as Many as
You Need.
Have a fun evening. Let
EVERYONE sing. Let EACH person judge the Winners.
Lots of restaurants will be happy to provide you free space or a room to get 10 or 20
additional eaters to come in.

"Music
expresses that which cannot be said
and on which it is impossible to be silent."
~Victor Hugo

"If the King loves music, it is well with the land."~Mencius

Thanks so much for
visiting. This is my page for easy listening while working.
Headphone on and typing away at the keys, it's like being in high school again!

Bill

Instructions: Click on the songs below to
hear them.
Real Player may have to be installed on your computer to listen.
If the links below don't bring up Real Player automatically,
then click Here and follow the
instructions to install Real Player

---------------------------- Music That
I Love ----------------------------- Hank
Williams - "The Shakespeare of the Hills"

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill? He sounds too blue
to fly.
The midnight train is whining low, I'm so lonesome I could cry.

Why cant I
free your doubtful mind and melt your cold, cold heart.

Your cheatin' heart,
Will pine some day,
And crave the love,
You threw away,
The time will come,
When you'll be blue,
Your cheatin' heart, will tell on you...

He wrote and recorded more than 100 polished and enduring songs before he died at 29 yrs.
He was a "honky tonk Blues"
singer. Here is the video and
song by that name.
His songs were transcendantly direct, sincere and emotional.
His did not write the typical "country music of the time.
He was much affected by the African-Amerian blues. "Blues" is a word in the title for many of his
later songs.

He learned to play the guitar from Rufus Payne, a local Black street mucian in
Montgomery.
His singing style and the words for many of his songs were spawned and refined in
"honky tonks",
the bars where single working men congregated.
Many of these listeners had been in prison.
Hence, his songs: My Son
Calls Another Man Daddy(one of my favorites) and Lonesome Whistle.
That you can see how much Lonesome Whistle
still resonates,
here are eight different videos of singers still whaling its plaintive notes:
Singers: OneTwoThreeFourFiveSix DylanEight.(my
favorite of the lot).
Many were divorced. His love longs about female disloyalty made him points with
them.
Women tended to come for live entertainment on weekends. They connected with his honesty.
It is said that one easily have heard a pin drop when he sang. He hynotized the
ladies. He would look at one or two intensely, while he swayed and played.Minnie Pearl said, "He had
a real animal magnetism.
He destroyed the women in the audience. And he was just as authentic as rain."

He wrote music compulsively. He would take lines that he heard from
just about anyone and turn them into music. Once he went fishing with a fellow
musician.
Instead of fishing, he sat in the boat thinking. His friend turned to him
and asked, "Are you going to fish or watch the swim by?"
He turned that simple line into the first line of "Long Gone Lonesome Blues".

"I went down to the river to watch the fish swim by.
But I got to the river so lonesome I wanted to die.., oh Lord!
and then I jumped in the river, but the doggone river was dry.
(Yodeling) She's long gone, and now I'm lonesome blue."

Mostly, after 1947, his songs reflected his own unhappiness and suited the frustrations of
his audience, too.
Many of his songs were clearly a form of communication with his first wife, Audrey, whom
he had a
rocky relationship with. Many were clearly a play for sympathy from an audience,
too.
His audince sevred as a sounding board, as he worked through his unhappiness..

Interestingly, drinking was only overtly the subject of two of his songs:
"There's A Tear in My Beer"
and "My Bucket Has A Hole in It". Later, country music took up the theme
of drinking
with a vengeance. The honky tonk artists of the late 1940s and early 1950s that are best
known are:
Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Hank Snow, Kitty Wells, Faron Young, the young George Jones,
and Hank Williams.

1923-1953

Hank Williams has given me a "Karaoke career". Not
very many people
sing his songs in San Diego.
Fewer put the real "twang" on them that I recall from
growing up in Cincinnati and
listening to the Grand Ole Opera with my Grandmother.
I used to hitch hike home
from high school. Lots of farmers would pick me up.
I learned to twang so they
would give me a ride closer to where I needed to go.
Now it comes in handy.

It's true
some some "fancy" people in upscale La Jolla turn their nose up at these
songs.
I blame myself for losing one nice
Karaoke hostess her job in a top floor La Jolla venue.
But some people will always be
narrow minded and try to create a pecking order. Their
egos need every boost they can get.
So what are we going to do with them. Sing and
hope they grow.

I do know that
I also love Mozart concertos and operas, Beethoven symphonies, trios and
quartets, Schubert piano
concertos and lieder along with Ravel, Dvorjak and Debussy, too.
These passions, classic country and
classical music, are not mutually exclusive. Music is music.
I figure the snobs who don't share
my taste for country music are tragic figures, culturally deprived
by their self-presumed higher
social status, in need of enlightenment!

I used to go to
poetry readings. But Karaoke is much better. You get the melodies in
addition to the words. Audiences
mostly get to see the words the performer sings. There
is so much difference in the way any two
people will sing a song, it's hard to get bored,
but not impossible.

Most singers in Karaoke
improve mightily over time with a little encouragement. Its fun to
see the way we all discover new
techniques to entertain, while we learn to songs to love.

And the best songs have a lot
to teach us. Hank William's kingness, compassion and
character comes through in his songs

(C)"Out on the corner (G7)standin' so bold
Stood a little paper boy so hungry and (C)cold
And as the crowd came (G7)passin' by
These words he said with tears in his (C)eyes

"Please buy a (G7)paper from me
So I can get me somethin' to (C)eat
My clothes are ragged, no (G7)shoes on my feet"
Said the little paper boy, there on the (C)street

"Out in this cold wide (G7)world all alone
I have no place on this earth to call (C)home
I haven't had the chance that (G7)other kids had
I have no mother, nor even a (C)dad

"So please buy a (G7)paper from me
So I can get me somethin' to (C)eat
My clothes are ragged, no (G7)shoes on my feet "
Said the little paper boy, there on the (C)street

"Early next mornin' as the (G7)crowd passed by
The little boy was gone and they wondered (C)why
They started searchin' and (G7)then found him dead
He died with the papers under his (C)head

"No one was there his (G7)body to claim
There he was lying but he felt no (C)pain
Now he has gone up to (G7)Heaven we know
The little paper boy who died in the (C)snow"
( Writers: Jim Anglin and Johnnie Wright )
Roy Orbison's song by the same name is different....

.
Hank Williams as A Man

Loyalty.

"I don't give a hang whether he drank or not, I appreciate the fact that he was
loyal...
I know that one time
another firm tried to bribe him away from me for $50,000, but he stuck
with Rose (his original
publisher). He'd say, 'I started with Rose and I'll stay with Rose'. And
he did..."If you
were his friend, he was the type of fellow who would stick up for you, no matter what.
Why, you could be here
and he could be out in California and somebody would come up to him and say,
'Aw, that Honicker,
he's a no-good bum.' And he'd collar the guy and say, 'Now, wait a minute!
You're talking about my
friend.' Up the Hard WayRose said: "He was just like me - came up the hard way. I've been on
my own
since I was seven. Grew
up in a small country town, just like Hank. Used to pass the hat around in
saloons for my keep.
He was like that, too." ( http://www.angelfire.com/me2/kulacoco/rose2.html
)Compassion:
"Big Bill Lister talked of Hank trying to give some
money to an old black couple
at a barbecue stand in
Montgomery who'd presumably given him food when he was younger. I found
that a profoundly
moving moment, mostly for what it said about Hank and his compassion."
( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/08/04/DI2005080401423.html
)His
steel guitarist, Don Helms recounts this story. "Once, playing an outdoor
venue, it began to rain
on Hank and his band.
Hank and the band retreated to a covered stage area, where they continued
the show. Looking over
the audience, who were getting soaked, Hank had compassion on his musical
followers, and returned
to the rain. "If you're good enough to listen to me in the rain, I'm good enough
to play for you in the
rain!" And he did.( http://www.amazon.com/Hank-Williams-Biography-Colin-Escott/dp/0316734977
)

Three
song writers have produced most of the songs I like best to sing and listen to. More than
Chris Christopherson,
Don Gibson and Hank Williams.

Hank Williams
The Mozart and Shakespeare of the hills. In physical pain from birth,
he is credited with boosting "country music" into the big time....
Like Mozart. he was prodigiously prolific and wrote songs as though
he was taking them down from a Dictaphone. He died very young,
before his 30th birthday. He is credited with 27 songs that "made
the top charts", were in the top 10 best selling songs each week.
As a start see - http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608000625/Hank-Williams-Sr.html

Hank Williams was truly America's first superstar. From 1949 to 1953,
Hank had 34 consecutive hit singles - 32 hitting the top ten and
11 going to number

Before he became famous, Hank Williams went to Nashville to meet Fred Rose who had a
record publishing
business and was a well-known producer and promoter, as well as writer of country music.
Hank walked in
and showed him some of his songs. Fred Rose could not believe anyone so young could write
so many
wonderful songs, so he gave him a sketch for a song and told him to go in the back room
and come out with a
finished song. After 20 minutes, Hank emerged with a hit and a Fred Rose took him
under his wing. I'm not
100% sure which song it was. I read this in a lengthy biography of Hank Williams.
But the book has been boxed
and can't easily be located. For a long time, I thought it was "Mansion on The Hill",
here sung by Ray Price. But
now I see the lyrucs are attributed to Roy Orbison.

There are those who say Hank Williams drank excessively and was merely a very gifted
"substance abuser" who
died from the drugs he took. This takes no account of the constant back pain he
suffered from congenital spina
bifida, the pain from which he had to control in order to perform. A hunting
accident in 1952 aggravated the back
pain. And an operation the same year to help him, actually made the pain even worse.
As a result, he became
very dependent on an assortment of painkillers that were dangerous taken in combination
with alcohol.

Lyrics to "I'll Never Get out of This World
Alive"
with basic guitar chords..

Recorded by Hank Williams
Written by Hank Williams and Fred Rose

Capo: 1st fret key: f# play: f
"Now you're [f] lookin' at a man that's gettin' kind-a mad
I had lot's of luck but it's all been bad
No [c7] matter how I struggle and strive
I'll never get out of this world a-[f] live.

My fishin' pole's broke the creek is full of sand
My woman run away with another man
No matter how I struggle and strive
I'll never get out of this world alive.

A [bb] distant uncle passed away [bb7] and [f] left me quite a batch [f7]
And [bb] I was livin'g high until that fatal [bb7] day
A lawyer [c7] proved I wasn't born
I was only hatched.---[f]

Ev'rything's agin' me and it's got me down
If I jumped in the river I would prob'ly drown
No matter how I struggle and strive
I'll never get out of this world alive.

These shabby shoes I'm wearin' all the time
Are full of holes and nails
And brother if I stepped on a worn out dime
I bet a nickel I could tell you if it was heads or tails.

I'm not gonna worry wrinkles in my brow
'cause nothin's ever gonna be alright nohow
No matter how I struggle and strive
I'll never get out of this world alive".

Lyrics to "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"
Recorded and written by Hank Williams

Here that lonesome whipporwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is winding low
I'm so lonesome I could cry

I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind the clouds
To hide its face and cry

Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die?
That means he lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry

The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry

"Crazy
Heart"- Sweet, short and so sad. I picture the lonely men at
the honky tonk stopping and thinking about someone they miss too
much. "We
Live in Two Different Worlds"- He desperately wanted his first
wife back."Faded
Love" Romance turned bitter is too sad to sing about. But he
does.
"Lonesome Whistle"- sing it with someone playing a harmonica.
"Tennessee
Border" - eloping across the state line in a pickup
truck.

I've sung near all of the 60 or so songs wrote for which there
is a Karaoke version. Sadly,
many others great songs Hank
Williams wrote have no
Karaoke version. Of these, I would
say the poignant
"My
Son Calls Another Man Daddy",
the angry "There'll Be No Tear Drops Tonight",
the insightful "My Heart Would Know"
and humorous "Window Dressing"
are the ones I miss most not being
able to share with others for
want of a Karaoke version.

I would dearly like to introduce
the Karaoke audience to these
songs. Maybe Sound Choice
will come through!

Slim WhitmanWhen things are quiet, indulge yourself and enjoy
Slim Whitman, who was much more popular in Europe than
the US. He had to take a second job for years.
He created his own left handed guitar.
He hit high notes other men didn't know existed.
He played professional baseball and batted .360.

But his timing was problematic. He could easily
sing 3 octaves. But his yodeling and high notes
were out of place when Rock and Roll took over.
He also refused to sing drinking and cheating songs.
That limited his country appeal in America.And he was
a womderful man.

"Controversy surrounding
Ronstadt arose during a July
17, 2004 performance at
the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts
in Las Vegas.
Towards the end of her performance, as she had done in performances across the country,
Ronstadt spoke to the audience, praising Michael Moore's
documentary
filmFahrenheit
9/11, a movie discussing the Iraq War, and dedicated the song "Desperado" to Michael
Moore. Accounts of the crowd's initial reaction was mixed, with "half the crowd
heartily applauding her praise for Moore,(and) the other half booing."[44]
However, the situation escalated into what Tyri Squyres, director of public relations at
the Aladdin, described as a "mob scene...It's amazing how ugly it got," with
people walking out, tearing down posters, throwing drinks and demanding a refund.

Following the concert, news accounts reported that Ronstadt was "evicted"
from the hotel premises.[45]
Ronstadt claimed she wasn't physically taken off stage but was ordered by Aladdin staff to
wait to speak with Aladdin President Bill Timmins. She claims to have refused to wait and
to have left, and later remarked that while Aladdin staff attempted to detain her, she
thought, "Are they were going to make me start writing on a chalkboard or read me
my Miranda rights?" Later she said, "Apparently..(the Aladdin)..called up
one of the people that was traveling with us and went, 'She's talking about Michael Moore,
and this is a place for entertainment, not politics'."

Ronstadt's comments, as well as some audience members and the hotel reactions, became a
topic of discussion nationwide, as Timmons and Michael Moore all made public statements on
the controversy. [46]

The "Aladdin Incident" subsequently drew international headlines and public
discourse on an entertainer's right to express a political opinion from the stage. The
Aladdin Incident made the editorial section of the New York Times.[47]

Following the incident, many friends of Linda Ronstadt, including The Eagles,
immediately cancelled their engagement at the Aladdin.[48]. Likewise, Ronstadt received immediate telegrams of support from her
rock 'n roll friends around the world, such as The
Rolling Stones, The Eagles, and Elton John.

Despite reports of this public response, Ronstadt continued in her praise of Moore and
his film throughout her 2004 summer concerts across the country, which evidently continued
to have a polarizing effect on the public. As Peter Asher noted,
"Ronstadt is an extremely determined woman, in every area."[49]
" "

"Riding on the City of New Orleans,
Illinois Central Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.
All along the southbound odysseyThe train pulls out at Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields.
Passin' trains that have no names,
Freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

CHORUS:
"Good morning America how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

"Dealin' card games with the old men in the club car.
Penny a point ain't no one keepin' score.
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor.
And the sons of pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel.
Mothers with their babes asleep,
Are rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.

CHORUS

"Nighttime on The City of New Orleans,
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.
Half way home, we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness
Rolling down to the sea.And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
The passengers will please refrain
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.

Good night, America, how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

Country Songs Often
Have Many Fathers

Singers would inevitably hear each other's songs and be influenced.
Take for example, Hank William's song "The
Wild Side of Life"
(written by Hank Thompson) and Kitty Wells song in reply "Honk Tonk Angels".

In "The Wild Side of Life," Thompson expresses regret that his bride-to-be
has left him for another man whom she met in a roadhouse, stating "I didn't know that
God made honky tonk angels..." In Wells' response  which follows the same
melody, but more uptempo  she cites the original song and counters that, for every
woman who had been led astray, it was a man who led her there (often through his own
infidelity). She also expresses frustration about how women are always made scapegoats for
the man's faults in a given relationship.

Wells' statement was a rather daring one to make in 1952, particularly in the
conservative, male-dominated realm of country music. Yet, she struck a chord with her
fans, as it became a six-week No. 1 song on Billboard
magazine's country charts (making Wells the first woman to ever top the country
music charts).

Eventually, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels" outsold Thompson's
"The Wild Side of Life," and launched the then little-known Wells into stardom.
The song has since been performed by nearly every female country artist at one time or
another, with notable versions having been recorded by Dolly Parton and
Patty
Loveless.

The melody of the song is very similar to, if not borrowed from, Reverend Guy Smith's
"The Great Speckled Bird" which was recorded and
popularized by Roy
Acuff. Acuff himself borrowing the melody from the Carter Family's
"I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes".

This similarity between the four songs was parodied by David Allen
Coe in his composition "If That Ain't Country" that he finishes, mocking the
same melody, with the verse:

VARIATIONS on A THEME
The Internet and YouTube gives us a wonderful way to research a song or
see how it was sung by different performers."Just Out of Reach"
This is a song I like that I first heard Willy Nelson sing.
It seems that the first person you hear sing a song, really puts a stamp on it.

Ken Dodd's version - What a
wonderful English comedian and friend of
the Beatles.
He added a nice extra verse.
"If you need me, I'll be near.
I'll be faithful, never fear.
I'll think of you both night and day.
So close and yet so far away.
I pray the Lord to keep you from all harm
when you're just out of reach of my two empty arms."

George Jones - He
Stopped Loving Her Today
Many people feel this is the saddest and most powerful
song in country music. A lady rushed up and gave me $5 while I was singing it.
George Jones said he was somewhat inebriated when he recorded it and he bet
the studio it would be a flop. It has been a hit ever since.
Here's another version I like - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlYg-hShiKI

And their much less well known "The Last Resort",
This is about how the West was lost. The lyrics are shown below:"She came from Providence,
the one in Rhode Island
Where the old world shadows hang
heavy in the air
She packed her hopes and dreams
like a refugee
Just as her father came across the sea

She heard about a place people were smilin'
They spoke about the red man's way,
and how they loved the land
And they came from everywhere to the Great Divide Seeking a place to stand
or a place to hide
Down in the crowded bars,
out for a good time,
Can't wait to tell you all,
what it's like up there
And they called it paradise
I don't know why Somebody laid the mountains low
while the town got high

Then the chilly winds blew down Across the desert
through the canyons of the coast, to the Malibu
Where the pretty people play,
hungry for power
to light their neon way
and give them things to do

Some rich men came and raped the land,
Nobody caught 'em
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and Jesus,
people bought 'em
And they called it paradise
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea You can leave it all behind
and sail to Lahaina
just like the missionaries did, so many years ago They even brought a neon sign: "Jesus is coming"
Brought the white man's burden down
Brought the white man's reign

Who will provide the grand design?
What is yours and what is mine?
'Cause there is no more new frontier
We have got to make it here

We satisfy our endless needs and
justify our bloody deeds,
in the name of destiny and the name
of God And you can see them there,
On Sunday morning
They stand up and sing about
what it's like up there
They call it paradise
I don't know why
You call someplace paradise,
kiss it goodbye."[ www.azlyrics.com
]

Gordon Lightfoot- Haunting
poetry...sad stories put to music while drifting along in a
boat.
Like poetry, his songs make one think. They provoke varied responses and
interpretations. ....
(1970)If
You Could Read My Mind. "This song is about the projection of the
false self.
The three way script is a triange of sorts. There's her, there's his false self that he
shows to
others, and the real self that he keeps hidden from others as well as himself. It's very
deep
actually. I'm pretty sure it has to with a personality disorder, such as Borderline. In
the interior,
he is a tortured soul, and will remain that way until he can connect with his real self.
Until then
he will not be able to truly connect with another. And will relive the same story over and
over
again. Because he connot maintain the projection forever. He will never be set free unless
he can connect to his real self. The "movie" is a metaphore where he is the
hero, but it is NOT real."
(Source
- Glenn, Huntington, NY) "I've
always heard that a three way script is a movie
about a love triangle, in this case, it would be one woman and two men. "Enter number
two"
means that the second man has entered the picture, thus the woman has fallen in love with
another man. This could explain the line "I don't know were we went wrong but the
feeling's
gone and I just can't get it back". It seems that the narrator in this song is
heartbroken because
his lover has found another and he just cannot forgive her. Don't know if this is right,
but it
seems to make sense to me." (Source Brad, Wendell, NC)People open up
talking about the impact Gordon L. had on them.

Cherokee Bendis
seldom played in the US. See why.His father was a man who could never understand
The shame on a red mans face
So they lived in the hills and they never came down
But to trade in the white mans place
It was early in the spring when the snow had disappeared
They came down with a bag of skins
In the fall of the year of 1910
Daddy died by the rope down in cherokee bend.

Daddy didnt like what the white man said
bout the dirty little kid at his side
Daddy didnt like what the white man did
Nor the deal or the way that he lied
There was blood on the floor of the government store
When the men took his daddy away
But the boy stayed back till he come to his end
And he run like the wind from cherokee bend.

Now the mother was alone and the winter was at hand
And she prayed to her spirit kin
It was warm in the lodge in the kentucky hills
On the day when the boy came in
Then a blizzard came down and it covered up the door
Till they thought that it never would end
And he told her the tale of the terrible affair
In the government store down in cherokee bend

Daddy didnt like what the white man said
bout the dirty little kid at his side
Daddy didnt like what the white man did
Nor the deal or the way that he lied

For three long days and thr ee long nights
They wept and they mourned and then
She returned to her work and her weavin
And they tried to forget about cherokee bend

Now the boy wasnt big but he hunted what he could
And they lived for a time that wayBut the food run low and the meat went bad
And she said to the boy one day

Im leaving tonight and I never will return
From the land of my spirit kin
You must take what you need and trade what you can
For a red mans grave down in cherokee bend

It wasnt very long till she closed her eyes
And he wrapped her in a robe
He found her a place on the side of the hill
And he buried her in the snow

Early in the spring he was seen in the town
With his load looking ragged and thin
Not a year had gone by till he stood once again
In the government store down in cherokee bend

He was ten years tall and a redskin too
So he hadnt much face to save
And the men sat around and they laughed and they clownedAt the talk of a criminals grave

Then the man from the east didnt smile when he said
Youre the son of that indian scum
If you value your hide then you better abide
By the white mans rules here in cherokee bend.

Daddy didnt like what the white man said
bout the dirty little kid at his side
Daddy didnt like what the white man did
Nor the deal or the way that he lied

And he spit on the floor of the government store
And it served him to no good end
At the close of the day they had taken him away
To the white mans school down at cherokee bend

Its been 21 years since the boy disappeared
Where he run to, nobody knows
But they say he fell in with a man named jimAnd he rides in the rodeos

And they say he returns all alone to a place
Hidden deep in the kentucky glen
And its pretty well known who hauled up the stone
To the grave on the hill above cherokee bend

Daddy didnt like what the white man said
bout the dirty little kid at his side
Daddy didnt like what the white man did
Nor the deal or the way that he lied

There was blood on the floor of the government store
When the men took his daddy away
It was 1910 and they never had a friend
When he died by the rope down at cherokee bend
It was 1910 and they never had a friend
When he died by the rope down at cherokee bend

Ray Price Crazy Arms
video Other versions: Willie Nelson
Great violining introduction. Similar to "I've Got Heart
Aches by The Number"I used to live in Albuquerque. Someone would come into a
restaurant I frequented
near the university and played this over and over. Now I sing it over
and over.
Listen to that steel guitar and electric bass. Crazy Arms came out in
1956 and spent
20 weeks as number 1. Only three other songs spent longer as #1.

George Jones He
Stopped Lovin' Her Today.Repeatedly, country audiences loves this song. One day I sang and a
professional musician said he enjoyed my singing. He asked for it each
time I saw him. It meant something special to him. Video of George
Jones.

November
6, 2007Randy Travis Whisper
My Name
A nice woman came up to me after I sang this in San Diego
and said that this was "the most beautiful song I ever heard."
She then said that she had been cloistered until recently!?
Its lyrics are wonderful.

" I heard a freight train out across the way
I heard a woman sing Amazing GraceI heard a night bird call to its mate
When I heard you whisper my name

I heard freedom break its chainI heard a heart beat where once no sound remained
I heard angels rise and praise
When I heard you whisper my name

Chorus:I heard music bring a heart of stone to tearsI heard peace ring like an anthem through the years
And I heard hatred fall from grace
When I heard you whisper my name

Beating softly against the waves
Fell a sound of an early morning rain
And though the lightning and thunder came
I still heard you whisper my name

-Chorus-
And I heard angels rise and praise
When I heard you whisper my name

Some Karaoke singers are professional singers
here and some
sing as well as those we have heard in lounges in Las Vegas.
I like many of their versions of songs more than the original
recording's singer's version. Yes, San Diego has quite
a few
singers who sing extraordinarily well. We are pleased to
have
heard many of them.

Karaoke lets you appreciate the poetry of the songs, because you
can read the words that are being sung. The songs a touch
what
makes us human. And if you want to appreciate how well the
very
best singers sing, try it yourself. That's how you learn to
appreciate
the variety of skills it takes. Along the way, you
will discover that
listeners want to be touched and entertained emotionally.
The
more the singers give of themselves, the more the audience
loves them. Life is that way, too.

Lyrics Hank Williams - My Heart Would Know
[c] I could [g7] say its over [c] now [c7]
That [f] I was glad to see you [c] go
[f] I could hate you for the [c] way Im [am] feelin
My [g7] lips could tell a lie, but my heart would [c] know. [c7]

[f] its a sin to make me [c] cry
[g7] when you know I love you [c] so [c7]
[f] I could tell my heart that [c] I dont [am] miss you
My [g7] lips could tell a lie, but my heart would [c] know.

I could give you all the blame
But Im sure the truth would show
I could tell this world Ive found a new love
My lips could tell a lie, but my heart would know.

I cant fool my cryin heart
cause it knows I need you so
I could tell my heart I'm glad we parted
My lips could tell a lie, but my heart would know.

Its so nice to meet an old friend
and pass the time of day
And talk about the home town a million miles away
Is the ice still on the river, are the old folks still the same
And by the way, did she mention my name
Did she mention my name just in passing
And when the morning came, do you remember if she dropped a name or two
Is the home team still on fire, do they still win all the games
And by the way, did she mention my name

Is the landlord still a loser, do his signs hang in the hall
Are the young girls still as pretty in the city in the fall
Does the laughter on their faces still put the sun to shame
And by the way, did she mention my name

Did she mention my name just in passing
And when the talk ran high, did the look in her eye seem far away
Is the old roof still leaking when the late snow turns to rain
And by the way, did she mention my name

Did she mention my name just in passing
And looking at the rain, do you remember if she dropped a name or two
Wont you say hello from someone, theyll be no need to explain
And by the way, did she mention my name

Jewel - Lyrics for Foolish Game

"You took your coat off and stood in the
rain
You were always crazy like that
I watched from my window
Always felt I was outside looking in on you
You were always the mysterious one with dark eyes and careless hair
You were fashionably sensitive, but too cool to care
Then you stood in my doorway, with nothing to say
Besides some comment on the weather
Well in case you failed to notice, in case you failed to see
This is my heart bleeding before you, this is me down on my knees
These foolish games are tearing me apart

Your thoughtless words are breaking my heart
You're breaking my heart
You were always brilliant in morning
Smoking your cigarettes and talking over coffee
You philosophies on art, Baroque moved you
You loved Mozart and you'd speak of your loved ones
As I clumsily strummed my guitar
You'd teach me of honest things
Things that were daring, things that were clean
Things that knew what an honest dollar did mean
So I hid my soiled hands behind my back
Somewhere along the line I must've gone off track with you
Excuse me, think I've mistaken you for somebody else
Somebody who gave a damn, somebody more like myself
These foolish games are tearing me apart

"The difference between sex and love is that sex relieves tension and love causes
it."
~ Woody Allen ~

"As she lay there dozing next to me, one voice inside my head kept saying, 'Relax...
you are not the first doctor to sleep with one of his patients'.But another kept
reminding me, 'Howard, you are a veterinarian'." ~ Dick Wilson ~